When talking about a film, whatever film it may be, the first thing I do is look at it up on IMDb, which I can only assume stands for Instant Movie Database. It's rating system is very reliable (usually) and gives a brief description of the film, as well as suggesting similar films. Its page for the Jackal is screen shotted below.
After looking at this I found myself confused. "An imprisoned IRA sniper is freed to help stop a brutal, seemingly "faceless" assassin from completing his next job" immediately sounds a lot more epic than its rather underwhelming rating of 6.3. The DVD cover presented me with another point of confusion; it shows and names two people, Bruce Willis and Richard Gere. Given that I was given this film as a Bruce Willis film, I was hoping that Bruce would be the main character, but the immediate impression the DVD cover gives you is that the two actors roles in the film are equally big.
My Take On The Film
Fortunately for me, after watching the film just once, both these problems were cleared up. I enjoyed the film a lot more than a rating of 6.3 would justify, I'd personally give it a 7.5/8. I also found a lot more depth to Bruce Willis' character (the Jackal) than Richard Gere (Declan Mulqueen). The Jackal is immediately presented to you as a very classy and cool guy, imagine Daniel Craig as James Bond but as the bad guy. As the film goes on however you notice he becomes more thuggish and, as IMDb suggest brutal. When parts of his plans are uncovered, the coolness turns to pure coldness as his true killer is shown to the viewer for the first time, and from here on all memory of the suave character you were initially presented with is erased. Declan Mulqueen however is a lot simpler, our first impressions of him is that he's just another jumpy Irish terrorist, which is odd given that as soon as he speaks to the FBI agents about stopping the Jackal, he turns into an incredibly suave and well spoken guy for the rest of the film, which is just as well really, given that pretty much all the rest of the shots of him in the film are of his admittedly good looking face smouldering or looking confused, yet in an intelligent way. When the film came to it's conclusion I found myself wanting the Jackal to succeed in his assassination, and I can only put this down to how the film gets you to want to know the Jackal, whereas it doesn't really give you anything on Declan Mulqueen.
Because of these points, instantly I knew that my poster should be based around Bruce Willis' character. Something which the makers of the film seem to agree with me on, given the name of the film.
Initial Ideas
Inspiration for ideas was very limited from my first viewing of the film was, "oh my god the gun was bloody huge", hence Jack Blacks bit-part characters excitement.
It didn't disappoint either, despite my joy in it succeeding to blow my most hated actor of all times arm clean off, I thought it'd be a bit distasteful to produce a poster of Jack Black clinging to his blood-stained stump of a right arm. Also, idea of using the gun itself doesn't lend itself very well to the idea of a portrait poster. I used this as an excuse to watch the film again to get more ideas, this time focusing more on quotes and characters.
Quotes
"I loved this man like a brother. He was a dear friend and partner to me. So I took no joy in that. But if I can do this to someone I love, imagine what I can do with someone I hate! The American FBI declares war on us. Then WAR IT IS!"
The above quote was from Russian bad guy right at beginning of the film after splitting an associates head open with an axe. This I feel would make for a good poster as it would reflect the brutal nature of the film, but it could be quite distasteful.
"It's not easy taking a life, but you saved one too - mine."
After agent Koslova shoots the Russian bad guy's brother (also a bad guy) to save agent Preston from being killed she looks traumatised. Agent Preston condoles and thanks her with the above quote. I think using this quote as the basis for a poster that is a bit different from what I imagine other posters for the Jackal are like, due its more emotional nature.
"I wonder if we'll ever know who the hell he was."
At the end of the film, the only surviving FBI agent, Carter Preston, is talking to Declan about the Jackal. I think the above quote could make for a good poster when used in conjunction with images of the Jackals numerous false identities, especially given that we, the audience, never find out who he really is either.
"Half now, half on delivery"
Is a quote that is used throughout the film by the Jackal when discussing arrangements for deals. I think this is definitely the best quote to use for a more conceptual poster, as it could split the poster in half, with one half showing Declan and the other the Jackal. It could also show irony given that, in the end, Declan delivers whereas the Jackal does not.
Screen Shots
I watched the film online so I could take screen shots relevant to the quotes or anything iconic within the film, they're shown below. I did a lot of shots because they could come in useful for me to trace on illustrator. They're not necessarily in chronological order because of the way my laptop saves them and organises them on my desktop.
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